LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s health authority said on Wednesday its chief had tested positive for the new coronavirus, but displayed only mild symptoms of the disease which has infected more than 300,000 people in the southern European nation.
Graca Freitas, 63, whose daily updates on the pandemic have made her a familiar face to the Portuguese public, tested positive on Tuesday and is in isolation, the General Directorate for Health (DGS) said in a statement.
Wednesday’s news conference on the pandemic situation in Portugal had been cancelled, the DGS said, and authorities were now tracking those who had been in recent contact with her.
News website Observador said Health Minister Marta Temido and Health Secretary Antonio Sales were in isolation while they waited for coronavirus test results.
Portugal, with a population of about 10 million people, has reported 300,462 coronavirus cases, with 4,577 deaths.
After a relatively mild first wave of the disease compared to countries such as Spain or Italy, Portugal has suffered record number of infections and deaths during the second wave over the past few weeks.
The number of infections per 100,000 people measured over the past 14 days in Portugal is 704, more than double that in neighbouring Spain, data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control showed.
(Reporting by Catarina Demony, Patrcia Vicente Rua and Victoria Waldersee; Writing by Catarina Demony; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Timothy Heritage)
